Gearing for washing-machines.



No. 68|,423. Patented Aug. 27, |90I.

J. C. PETERS. i

GEABING F08 WASHING MACHINES. (Application led July 12, 1900.)

(No Model.)

....JQJXM, i W49 f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN O. PETERS, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

GEARING FOR WASHING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 681,423, dated August 27, 1901.

Application filed July l2I 1900.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LJOHN O.PETERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Wayne, in the county of Allen, in the State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gearing for Washing Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled 1n the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in gearing for that class of Washing-machines in which theagitator-shaft is alternately reversed.

The principal object of my present invention is to provide an improved operating mechanism adapted to transform the rotary motion of the power-shaft into alternating motion in the agitator-shaft in washing-machines, the said mechanism being of simple and economical construction and positive, efcient, and reliable in operation.

Another object is to provide an improved washing machine gear which is not only adapted to impart to the agitator-shaft an alternating motion, but which can also be operated in either direction with equal facility.

My improvement consists of a pair of hori- 'zontal bevel gear-wheels loosely mounted on a vertical agitator-shaft, which is revolubly mounted in proper bearings in an upright supporting-frame fixed upon a suds-box lid and, as usual, carries upon its lower extremity a proper rubber or agitator, a horizontal power-shaft mounted in suitable bearings and carrying upon its outer end a proper handwheel and provided upon its inner end with a fixed bevel-pinion in cooperative relation with the said bevel-gears, and a winged detent pivotally mounted on the said agitatorshaft midway of the said gears and adapted for an actuating engagement with the said pinion and also with the gears alternately for the purpose of imparting to the agitatorshaft an alternating motion from the continuous rotary motion of the said pinion.

The novel feature of my invention resides in the means for alternately reversing the direction of rotation of the agitator-shaft.

Serial No. 23,296. (No model.)

the tripping-lugs by which the detent is reversed.

My improved gearing is rotatably mounted in a proper upright casting or frame 2, having an integral base 3 and a longitudinallyextended arm 4, whose outer upturned end is provided with a journal-bearing for the outer end of the power-shaft 5, which carries upon its outer extended end a proper hand or fly wheel having a suitable operating-handle. The power-shaft 5 has its inner end loosely mounted in a proper journal-bearing 8 on said frame 2 and carries on its inner end a fixed bevel-pinion 9, adapted for an actuating engagement with the bevel gear-wheels 10 and 11. The said wheels 10 and 11 are identical in construction and preferably are each provided with forty cogs, while the said meshing gear-wheel 9 has but half as many cogs or preferably twenty. An upright agitator-shaft12 is revolubly mounted in suitable bearings 13 and 14 in said frame 2- and i is adapted to carry uponitslower end a proper rubber or agitator of wellunderstood construction and mode of operation. The gearwheels 10 and 11 are loosely mounted on the agitator-shaft 12. Intermediate of the said gear-wheels a reversing detent 15 is pivotally mounted on the agitator-shaft, as follows: The said detent is provided approximately midway its ends with an oblong vertical opening 16, adapted to loosely contain the said agitator-shaft l2 and permit the said detent to execute a vertical rocking movement in the performance of its function, and is pivoted. in such position by a pin 17 or in other suitable manner. This detent 15 has a conical extension at its forward end, which is provided with a conical point 18 for the pur- ICO pose hereinafter described, and has its other end provided with the vertical Wings 19 and 20, adapted to alternately form a locked engagement with the said gear-wheels 10 and 11, as follows: The said gear-Wheels are each provided upon the inner facewith an annular track or way 2l, 0n which the corresponding wing of said detent is adapted to ride, and each of said gears has a vertical opening or recess 22 for the reception of the said wingin the manner presently to be described.

The pinion 9 has its inner face slightly concave and provided with the quadrant-shaped lugs or plates 23 and 23, which are preferably inl egral and are so arranged as to alternately tilt the said detent vertically, thereby throwing it out of its engagement with one of said gears into engagement with the other one for the purpose of reversing the direction of rotation of the said agitator-shaft. On the outer end of the said frame 2 and upn the inner face thereof is arranged an integral inwardly-projecting lug or plate 25, which is adapted to prevent derangement of the said detent at each one-half revolution thereof when the two openings or recesses 22 are in register or coincident.

The operation of my improvement thus described is, brieliy stated, as follows: The operator rotates the power-shaft continuously in` the same direction, thereby rotating the said gear-wheels in opposite directions by means of the pinion 9, which is at all times in mesh with the said gears and can be rotated in eitherdirection with equal facility, the direction of rotation of the agitator being of course determined by the direction of rotation of the gear-wheel with which the reversing detent is engaged. The manner of reversing the said detent is as follows: Assuming that the direction of rotation of the powershaft is to the left, the detent in Fig. 2 is shown in dotted outlines as it appears in the act of'reversing and is shown in full lines as it appears on its return movement to the left, the lower wing 20 resting in the said opening 22 of the lower gear, and is thus interlocked therewith during the said lnovement of the detent to the left. The forward-pointed end rides on the upper face of the said lug 25 while the said Wings are passing by the opening 22 of the u-pper gear, thereby preventing all danger of displacement of said detent. During this movement and while the wing 2O is thus engaged the wing 19 rides on the said annular track 21 of the upper gear. As the said detent is reversed for its return movement to the right the conical point 18 is brought first into contact with the adjacent edge of the upper of said quadrant lugs or plates 23, thereby forcing the said point 18 downward, thereby disengaging the wing 2O from the lower gear and throwing the wing 19 into a similar engagement with the opening 22 of the upper gear, which at'that moment registers with the said opening 22 of the lower gear, thereby reversing the direction of rotation of the said detent and also of the said agitator-shaft 12, because the said gears 10 and 11 of course rotate in opposite directions. The relative thickness of the conical end 18 of the said detent is too great to permit it to pass through the narrow space between the said reversing lugs 23 under any conditions of use, whereby when the said end 18 is actuated by either one of said lugs 23 the detent will be forced to the central position, (shown in Fig. 2,) in which the said end 18 will be momentarily out of contact with either of said lugs; but is then forced onward in the direction it was then started, whether upward or downward, thereby reversing the direction of rotation of the agitator-shaft at each revolution of the said gear-.wheels 10 and 11. As the said detent continues its return movement to the right the said point 18 will pass beneath the said lug 25, and the said wing 19 will ride on the annular track 2l of the said ripper gear to the end of said return movement, when the detent will again be reversed, as described. It is obvious, therefore, that the said reversing detent never passes the said pinion 9, which under all conditions is the limit of the movement of said detent in both directions, and that the powershaft can be rotated with equal facility in either direction without changing in the least the above-described mode of operation. y

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. In a gearing for Washing-machines, an upright agitator-shaft; oppositely-rotatable gear-wheels loosely mounted upon said shaft and each being provided with an annular track and radial recess or opening for the purpose described; a vertically-tilting detent pivoted upon said shaft and adapted for a holding engagement with the said gear-wheels alternately; a power-shaft, and an actuatingpinion ixed upon the inner end of the powershaft and in mesh with said gears; and provided upon its inner face with the oppositelyarranged quadrant plates or lugs, for the purpose specified.

2. An upright rotatable agitator-shaft; a pair of oppositely rotatable gear wheels mounted on said shaft; means for actuating said gear wheels in opposite directions; a horizontal detent pivotally mounted on said shaft intermediate of said gear-wheels and provided upon its rear end with vertical Wings adapted to form an interlocking engagement with the said gears alternately for the purpose of reversing the direction of the agitatorshaft;. means for alternately throwing said detent into engagement with said Wheels; and means for securing said detent in its interlocked position.. y

3. An upright rotatable agitator-shaft; oppositely-rotatable gear-wheels loosely mounted on said shaft; a power-shaft, an actuatingpinion fixed on the inner end of said power- IOO shaft and in mesh with said gears and pro vided upon its inner face with opposite radial quadrant plates or lugs; a horizontally-arranged detent pivoted on said upright shaft and provided upon one end With interlocking wings as described and upon its other end With a conical point adapted for an actuating engagement with said plates for the purpose specied.

4. lThe combination of a vertical agitator-shaft; oppositely-rotatable gear-wheels mounted on said shaft; a power-shaft; an actuating-pinion secured to the inner end of the power-shaft and in mesh With said Wheels, and provided upon its inner face with a pair of oppostely-arranged quadrant-plates as shown; and a pivoted detent arranged on said Vertical shaft intermediate of the said gear-Wheels adapted for a locked engagement With the said Wheels alternately, and adapt- JOHN C. PETERS.

Witnesses:

ADELAIDE KEARNs, WATTS P. DENNY. 

